With a Silent Step
by weiss kittyn
Summary: -Ch. 8 up- IchiIshi When Kurotsuchi goes mad, Ichigo is the one to suffer.
1. In the Dark of the Night

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri went crazy last night and fled Seireitei with Nemu."

Ichigo struggled to open one eye, only to come face to face with Rukia's iron gaze. He jerked backwards, still absorbing what she'd said into his sleepy brain.

"What?" he asked stupidly, scratching his head. "What time is it. Why are you even in here?" Blinking blearily around at his bedroom, he finally located his clock. It was only four in the morning. "Dammit, Rukia, don't wake me up this early for anything that's not a hollow." He flopped back down into bed, and yanked the covers back up.

Rukia yanked them right back down. "Idiot!" she accused. "Did you even hear me? Kurotsuchi has gone crazy."

"Not my problem," Ichigo replied flippantly. "Ask me again-" he yawned midsentence, "-in an hour or two when I've actually gotten some sleep."

"Not your-" Rukia's voice choked off in rage. The next thing Ichigo knew she'd grabbed him by his hair and yanked him up. His Shinigami soul left his body laying in the same, inelegant position he'd been in. Rukia smirked at him smugly as he yawned again.

"Dammit, Rukia, I just got to sleep an hour ago because I was out fighting those damned hollows. How the hell do you expect me to be any use now?" Brown eyes flashed against grey as the two Shinigami stared eachother down.

To Ichigo's surprise, it was Rukia who looked away first. "We don't have time for this. Kurotsuchi could be anywhere."

"Why'd you come to me with this?" Ichigo asked after a long moment of silence. It wasn't as though there weren't eleven other captains to be requested. And it wasn't as though he'd wanted captaincy in the first place. Yamamoto had shoved him into the position of fifth division captian shortly before the war against Aizen had ended. That had been nearly a year ago, and he still hadn't adjusted. Running a clinic part time with a full time job as big brother and Shinigami captain was exhausting, and he still spent much of his time in Karakura, to the great dismay of the other captains.

He'd worked it out for himself, however, that while he was in Karakura, he was simply Shinigami Ichigo, the way he'd always been. His captain's haori resided in his unused quarters in fifth division; he only ever used it when he had to go to Soul Society for meetings and such, which were few and far between.

Rukia, for her part, had finally convinced her brother to allow her into vice-captaincy of the thirteenth, though he still drew the line at allowing her to apply for full captain status. She wore her insignia proudly when in the Seireitei, but, like Ichigo, discarded it when she came to the ningenkai. Renji and Hanatarou had also been appointed captain positions, after war casualties stripped the Gotei 13 of many of their former leaders. Ichigo had the sneaking suspicion that Yamamoto was allowing his friends to be moved up in rank simply because they were his friends, and if Yamamoto did him this favour of granting power to his friends, he would do the return favour of granting more of his power to the Gotei 13.

Ichigo still lived with his dad and sisters in Karakura, just to spite the scheming old man.

It had been five years since Rukia had first appeared in his life, and the time had alternately flown by and crept past at a snail's pace. Orihime and Tatsuki had officially announced their engagement, and Ichigo, for his part, couldn't have been happier for either of them. Ishida had been miffed; Ichigo knew the Quincy archer had harboured a bit of a flame for the busty girl for several years, and that it was an affront to his manhood to be passed up for another girl. Ichigo'd known Tatsuki for what seemed like forever, though, and he knew that the two girls would be good for one another. She often visited with her brother in one of the cleaner sections of south Rukongai, and he'd given his full blessing, something Orihime still hadn't quite gotten over being happy about.

"So what's the big deal about Kurotsuchi?" Ichigo asked finally, rolling the memories of the scientific taichou around in his brain.

"He's vanished! His entire lab is gone, and the entire twelfth division is in absolute chaos. There was one..." she trailed off, averting her eyes. Ichigo felt his own narrow. If Rukia wasn't looking directly at him, then there was something else going on that she hadn't mentioend.

"Out with it, fukutaichou," he demanded. She snapped to attention, forgetting who she was with for a moment.

"Yes, Kurosaki-taichou. There was a conspicuous notebook left behind with detailed plans for some sort of bracelet. Your name was mentioned several times, and I was sent here to make sure you hadn't been attacked." She glowered at him for pulling rank on her; she'd been a Shinigami for far longer than his grandparents had even been alive! The fact that he even had the power to pull rank on her grated. If only Byakuya had relented about the captaincy...

"My name?" Ichigo was finally starting to look more awake. He scowled. "There's no way he could get past the barriers around the house," he decided with finality. The barriers had been a joint effort between Ichigo, Urahara, and Yoruichi - they provided a shield of reiatsu that fed off the spirtual energy in the air and put off by the members of the family. It was at its strongest when both Isshin and Ichigo were at home, but it would survive most hollow attacks even if Yuzu were there by herself. They'd specifically made sure that not even a menos grande would get through it, no matter who was home. If Ichigo was going to stay in Karakura, his reasons for being there would be well protected.  
The only failsafe way to get through the barrier was to be invited - and they'd been very careful about who was 'invited' inside.

"You really ARE an idiot!" Rukia screamed. "You gave permission to all captains and vice captains shortly after the shield went up! He's still a captain, even if he did run wild. I have orders to place you in protective custody at Urahara's shop."

"With the Geta-Boushi?" Ichigo felt both eyebrows meet his hairline. "What could he possibly do for me that I couldn't do for myself?"

Rukia felt her eyelid twitch. Memories of Ichigo's recklessness in the past flitted through her mind. Storming Soul Society as a Vizard, and kicking the shit out of everyone who stood between him and rescuing her. Storming Hueco Mundo with just a handful of people to rescue Inoue. Storming Las Noches to deliver the final, killing blow to both Ichimaru and Aizen. "Keep you from running off half-cocked to fight Kurotsuchi yourself, dumbass!" She shouted, and pressed him into a kidou binding taught to her by Yamamoto himself.

'We cannot have Kurosaki-taichou running after Mayuri himself. He will trust no one else within his home at night, not with the recent upswing in Hollow attacks.' The soutaichou had looked pleased with himself. 'Kurosaki-taichou is extraordinarily powerful; it is the reason I entrusted him with fifth division, which still falls under negative rumours thanks to Aizen's betrayal. With Kurosaki at it's head, the rumours will stop. However, it is that very power he wields that makes him believe he is invincible. Kurotsuchi has gone mad; there is no telling what he is planning. You are hereby commanded to retrieve Kurosaki-taichou and deliver him to Urahara, who will prevent him from being targeted and also from doing anything typically rash.'

Ichigo glowered at her from under the binding spell, but found his efforts to break it useless. She picked him up easily, and used shunpo to cross the distance between the Kurosaki clinic and Urahara shop with two steps.

-

Kisuke was already waiting outside for them. "Ichigo-kun!" he said cheerfully. Ichigo, unable to speak under the binding, simply glared. "Welcome back, Taichou. Yamajii has told me everything. Don't worry, Yoruichi is on her way to warn your family to be on edge. You probably passed her on the way here."

He snapped his fan open, smiling idiotically in typical Urahara fashion. "Don't worry about school tomorrow. You will still be allowed to attend, but don't be surprised to find a bodyguard tailing you. Due to the nature of the, ah... notebook in question, the Soutaichou decided it would be best if you allowed us to protect you for once. Consider it returning the favours!"

Rukia released the kidou, and Ichigo rounded on her, swearing. "I don't need to be protected, dammit!" he yelled. "I'm perfectly fine on my own!"

"You obviously don't remember what happened to the last person who was targeted by Kurotsuchi!" Rukia yelled right back. "This isn't because we think you're weak, but because we like you better in one piece!"

He scowled, but didn't argue further. Urahara watched the discourse silently, hiding his smirk behind his fan.

-

"Why are you here?" Ichigo demanded the next day, glowering at Rukia who had once again appeared in her gigai - a proper one, this time, she'd assured him - and clad in the school uniform of the college he attended. Ishida, Keigo, and Mizuiro were gathered in front of the gates to the university they were all attending, waiting for Ichigo who was normally a little on the late side.

"I'm waiting for your bodyguard to show up," Rukia said stiffly. Ichigo scowled harder.

"Don't need a bodyguard," he muttered, but it was nearly drowned out by the deafening "ICHIGO KUUUUN!" from behind them.

He turned to see who was bellowing, when an arm hooked around his neck and tugged him forward, smashing his face and lips into those of the other person.

They stayed perfectly frozen for a full five seconds before Ichigo sprang backwards, sputtering and spitting and wiping his mouth. Hirako Shinji smiled pleasantly, as though he hadn't just kissed another man in full view of God and everybody.

Several feet away, Ishida Uryuu watched the exchange between Ichigo and Rukia impassively; it was commonplace for the two to bicker like siblings. When the cheerful shout from behind the pair of Shinigami segued into an impromptu kiss, he felt his bow flicker into his hand.

A strong hand on his shoulder surprised him into letting it go. He turned to find Chad standing behind him.

"Ishida-kun, have you told him about it yet?" the larger man inquired passively. Ishida felt heat rising into his cheeks.

"There's nothing to tell," he assured brusquely.

"I see," came the quiet rumble. The blush on Ishida's face darkened.

"There _is_ nothing to see," he insisted. Chad simply smiled, and turned his attention back to Ichigo, who had somehow degraded the shouting into a rolling-around, in-the-dirt wrestling match while Rukia looked on from out of range and shouted at both boys to knock it off, they were dirtying their uniforms.

They finally separated, Shinji springing up like some demented jack-in-the-box and sailing over to Mizuiro and Keigo.

"My friends!" he said gleefully, and all three of them started talking at once. Ishida felt a headache coming on.

He stalked over to Kurosaki, who was still sitting angrily in the dirt, staring at the vizard who had kissed him so unexpectedly. "Get up, Kuroski, you're a mess," he demanded. Ichigo glared up at him petulantly.

"Not until he apologizes," the redhead said. Ishida scowled, then yanked the captain-level Shinigami up by his collar and began dusting him off.

"This isn't high school any more you freak," he admonished. "Black uniforms show dirt a lot more than grey does, and you don't have enough time to go home and change." Ichigo was content to cross his arms over his chest and glare daggers into Shinji's back. It wasn't until Ishida shoo'd his hands away so that he could fix his tie that Ichigo even seemed to notice Ishida in front of him.

It was at this time that they realized they were in the middle of a spectacle, and leapt apart. Shinji was collapsed against Keigo, laughing hysterically. The vizard thought the lot of them were there for the sole purpose of his amusement, Ichigo thought mutinously to himself.

Said vizard called out to them. "Ishida-chan, I think my tie is a little crooked too. Couldn't you come over here and fix it for m-OI!" The streak of blue light followed by a charred and smoking hole in the gate scant millimeters from Shinji's head prevented any further teasing that morning.

---

Later that afternoon, the entire group trekked back to Urahara's for a midafternoon snack, and also just to continue hanging out, though none of them would admit it like that even if pressed.

Shinji seated himself as close to Ichigo as he could get without being in his lap, and laid his head on the Shinigami's shoulder. "It's so nice being here together like this," he sighed. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched. Across from them, Ishida tried to pretend like he wasn't watching every move Shinji made towards his charge and wishing that he could simply call down an arrow into the stupid vizard's head.

Urahara beamed like a proud father. "Since you're all having so much fun, why don't you stay here for the night, too?"

"I get to sleep with Ichigo!" Shinji immediately called. Ishida felt the chopstick in his hand snap in two.

"What?! HELL NO! I'm sleeping alone!" Ichigo immediately started another fight. While the two vizards bickered, Ishida felt eyes on him. Surreptitiously glancing around, he realized it wasn't any of the people gathered. His eyes slid to the left. Urahara was smiling at him innocently, and wordlessly passed him another set of disposable chopsticks.

Later that night, Ishida was laying awake, thinking about his recent behavior. There was simply no excuse for it, he realized. It was just a little crush. It wasn't as though Ichigo would ever allow him to act on it - his reaction to Shinji's utterly innocent kiss that morning proved that even at twenty years old and an experienced Shinigami, Ichigo was just too innocent and prudish. Orihime had gotten over her crush on Ichigo and moved on. He'd gotten over his crush on Orihime and moved on.

Just to run headlong into the brick wall that was Kurosaki Ichigo.

A soft noise from the futon next to his caught his attention. To his annoyance, it was Shinji, and based on the gentle but rapid motions beneath his comforter, the vizard was engaged in a commonplace - but generally private - mission with his hand.

"Oh, Ichigo..." the vizard moaned so quietly that Ishida wouldn't have heard it if he'd been breathing any louder. An angry glance at the hollowed Shinigami revealed that the older boy was doing it on purpose; the blond had a shit-eating grin on his face as he caught Ishida's eye. Disgusted, Ishida got up and dragged his futon as far away from the vizard as the small room would allow.

As he was laying down again, he felt it. The merest tingle of foreign reiatsu. Senses on edge, he listened, but the only sounds in the room were Keigo's snoring and Mizuiro's shifting on his futon. And the horrible noises from Shinji's futon, but Ishida tuned those out.

-

In the spare bedroom next door to the one the other boys were sharing, Ichigo flopped over onto his stomach. The small amount of sleep he'd gotten the night before should have ensured that he was asleep the moment his head touched his pillow, but something was keeping him from relaxing fully.

He wanted to blame it on the softly buzzing reiatsu shield surrounding the room, but that had become a soothing noise over the past few months, since the shielding had gone up at his own house.

Turning the days events over in his mind, he decided it was the kiss.

The kiss.

The unwanted, unexpected gesture of affection from Shinji - the person Urahara had contacted to tail him and ensure that Kurotsuchi and his minions came nowhere close to Ichigo. He'd never thought about such things as gay or straight, guys or girls. For a long time he was too unpopular because of his hair colour, and then he became too busy. He liked Rukia well enough, and he wasn't as oblivious to Orihime's old crush as he pretended to be. Finally, he decided the kiss wasn't so much that it was another guy, but that it was _Shinji._ The single most irritating person Ichigo still had regular contact with.

Then he wondered if that made him bisexual. Just because he'd never found himself attracted to guys, didn't mean he couldn't be, did it? He found himself thinking about the men who surrounded him in a new light.

Urahara was admittedly attractive. The crazy hair, wild hat, and constant light-heartedness was refreshing. Urahara also had the bad-ass fighting skills to back up his good looks, and that was important to Ichigo. He lived for protecting his friends and family, but it was nice to be able to take a break, to be able to have a day, or even a moment, in which he didn't _have_ to protect _everyone._

He immediately decided that that would be a factor in who he chose to date. He couldn't date someone who was weak, or unable to fight. He would spend all his time worrying about them, and then gradually hate them because of their uselessness.


	2. Beneath the Tender Touch

Ichigo came to in a huge cavern of a room. Various things around him were beeping and twinkling, and his entire body felt as though he'd been run over by a semi that backed up over him and run over him again.

The icy chill in the air was reminiscent of something, but he couldn't quite place it. A noise in the corner distracted him from trying to remember the last place he'd been so cold. He turned his head with effort, and saw a pretty girl in a chinese dress pressing buttons on some sort of massive machine. She turned to look at him, and he realized it was the twelfth division's fukutaichou, Kurotsuchi Nemu. Beside her was the monster who'd stolen him right from under Urahara's nose.

"Welcome back, boy," the scientist said cheerfully. Or as cheerfully as he ever got, that was. Ichigo suddenly had an urge to look down and make sure all of his limbs were still attached. There wasn't much that could make the madman that happy, although disembowelment and permanent disfigurement ranked high on the list. "Yamamoto-soutaichou had such high hopes for you. The rising star of fifth division, appointed to bring fame and fortune back to the unlucky. Well, I have other plans than letting you get in my way."

Kurotsuchi advanced on him, and Ichigo shrank back in horror.

---

Yoruichi had been summoned from Ichigo's house, and the group of them - Urahara, Yoruichi, Chad, Ishida, Keigo, Mizuiro, and - to Ishida's disgust - Shinji - were gathered in the sitting room, trying to break the tense silence about what to do.

"Well, he wants him alive," Shinji offered after several long, silent moments. "If he wanted to kill him, all he'd have to do would be just sneak in and kill him. No sense dragging him off to do it."

Urahara inclined his head. "That is one way of looking at it."

"Another is that he wanted to torture him before killing him," Yoruichi added darkly. Ishida flinched, and she shot him an apologetic look. Was everyone aware of his crush but Kurosaki?

Chad shook his head. "I can't believe that. He's obviously been planning this for a long time. One does not simply go mad and then kidnap the most powerful captain in Soul Society."

"Mad people might," Keigo interjected. "I mean ... if something set him off just last night, it could have been something that just got into his head.."

"No," Rukia said, suddenly appearing through a gateway from Soul Society. "I just checked. The dates on that notebook we found were... quite old. This has been something he's been waiting for."

Yoruichi frowned thoughtfully, and then climbed to her feet and began to pace. "It's clear he left the book behind on purpose, especially if everything else was cleared out." She turned her attention to Rukia. "What was the exact nature of the things written in this notebook?"

"That's just it," Rukia said helplessly. She looked around at the faces of Ichigo's gathered friends and felt she had never been more useless in her life. "It's all in short hand. The entire thing is completely useless, because no one can figure out what he was talking about. The only things written out were Kurosaki and something about the wrist."

Urahara looked interested. "I wonder if perhaps they would allow me to look at it?"

The house shook as the gates to Soul Society opened outside, and the spiritually aware members of the party gasped. Keigo demanded to know what was going on, and whether or not they were having an earthquake, when a rumbling cackle reached through to their ears. Yoruichi was on her feet and out the door in a flash, followed by Ishida hot on her heels. The small hole opened in the fabric of space closed, but not before the two of them had a good chance to identify the caller as Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

Ishida knelt down beside Ichigo, who had been thrown to the ground in front of the Urahara shop front.

"Careful!" Yoruichi warned. "He wasn't gone long, but anything could have happened to hi-" She was cut off as Ishida gathered Ichigo up into his arms, only to nearly drop the shinigami captain as he spasmed violently and groaned in obvious pain. It passed after a few moments, and Ishida brought him inside.

Urahara was reluctant to touch him before Tessai completed a complicated scan of his reiatsu.

"The only thing different is this," Tessai said, and lifted Ichigo's wrist to display the leather strap that was wrapped snuggly around his forearm. Protruding from it were ten small silver knobs; two of them were flush against the leather, and as they watched, Urahara leaned over to brush Ichigo's hair off his forehead. The simple act brought another of the knobs shooting down into Ichigo's arm, and another groan and spasm. This one seemed more painful and longer lasting than the one Ishida had witnessed. Tessai dropped Ichigo's wrist, afraid that contact with him would cause it, and in the process grazed his fingers. Another knob plunged downwards, and sweat began appearing on Ichigo's face and chest as he began shaking uncontrollably.

"Nobody touch him!" Urahara commanded. "Not until we figure out what this is and how it's affecting him!"

Already four of the small metal pieces had been lowered. Urahara risked another touch, but found that nothing happened. It appeared that once was enough. But what was the trigger?

His mind racing, Kisuke examined the leather bracer. It appeared innocuous enough, but clearly whatever it was was causing Ichigo some pain.

Rukia gasped. "That design! That's what we found in the note book of Kurotsuchi's! What could it be for?"

Urahara began pacing, his clogless feet making no sound on the wooden floors. _Could it be fingerprints? No, that would mean that we'd have to touch the leather. I touched his forehead and it set that thing off. It's got to be something that's unique to each person, but can be sensed without direct contact. Auras? **No.**_ "Reiatsu!" He shouted suddenly, drawing all eyes. "That has to be it. It responds to people with reiatsu, when they come into contact with him." He repeated his warning for no one but Tessai, Ishida, and himself to touch Ichigo, and then wondered who the first trigger had been. _Had to have been Mayuri or Nemu. That's the only explanation. But where did they take him? Clearly not here in the human world. Hueco Mundo perhaps? But there's nothing there. Unless he rebuilt his lab in that desolate place.... Damn. If only I had more answers._

Ichigo was moved into Urahara's room with him, both so that he could be kept watch on and also because Kisuke had the only western bed in the house. Urahara slept on a spare futon, beside the bed. The entire attack - from Ishida's first tingle of warning to the time Ichigo had been dumped outside the shop - had taken less than two hours. It had been masterfully orchestrated, and now only time would tell if Ichigo would be alright.

-

Shinji snuck into Urahara's room, scoffing silently that the older man hadn't even bothered to lock his door. The hollow inside him was urging him to mischief, and as much as he admired Ichigo's strength - and loved to see Ishida squirm by flirting constantly with the other vizard - he couldn't stop himself from reaching out and gently grasping the closest part of bare skin he could find. Another knob depressed, and Ichigo's body went rigid. Shinji, suddenly aware that Ichigo had friends who would kill him for something like this, vacated the room, leaving a sleepy Urahara to puzzle over how another of the metal pieces had fallen when no one was close by.

The next morning, everyone slept late. Urahara woke before anyone else, sometime before noon, and made phone calls to Isshin and the other parents, letting them know that their children were safe. Even at twenty years old, parents still liked to know where their kids were.

Ururu, having slept through most of the night's disturbances, entered Urahara's bedroom silently. She couldn't figure out why Ichigo was in here instead of his own room, or why he was still sleeping when it was time for brunch. She reached out and shook his shoulder, and then jumped back and screamed when Ichigo arched off the bed and shouted.

Jinta was the first one in the room, concerned for her - not that he'd ever admit it, not even to himself - and he immediately felt for a fever. This sent another of the knobs down, out of sight from the two powerful children, and Ichigo began thrashing in his sleep. Urahara appeared moments later, glowering like the Shinigami he'd formerly been.

"Did you touch him!?" he demanded. Ururu looked shamed.

"I just wanted to wake him up," she murmured. Jinta scowled.

"He looks sick. Why the hell is he here?"

Urahara ignored them both, and turned Ichigo's wrist over. Only the last three spikes were still raised. Kisuke swore softly.

"What are those?" Ururu asked quietly. "What's happened to Ichigo?" She turned her huge eyes up trustingly to Urahara. In them, he could see her thoughts. _You're his master. You know everything. How could you let something like this happen to him right in your own home? What's going on? There's nothing you can't do, so why aren't you fixing him? Why is he still like this?_

"I... I don't.... I don't know," Urahara said. His hat shadowed his eyes, and his mouth was set in a grim line. "I don't know what's happening to him, and I don't know how to stop it."

A roaring in the distance signaled a hollow. Ichigo shifted slightly, frowning as though he could sense it too. Urahara looked down at him fondly, then heard Rukia and Chad ignite their powers - Rukia leaving the gigai she'd been occupying, Chad bringing his power arms into play. Urahara felt their reiatsu fill the the house as they prepared for battle, and then turned a horrified glance downward.

Two more silver pellets had pushed down. Ichigo's face was damp with sweat, and he moaned softly, his face scrunching up in pain. Urahara eyed the last knob with uncertainty. The scientist in him wanted someone to push the last one in, to find out once and for all what this was about. His good sense told him that it was Kurotsuchi's doing, and that they should be thinking of a way to get that thing off him before it depressed and possibly killed him. Several blocks away, Chad and Rukia made short work of the hollow that had appeared to prey on innocent souls. He felt their return, but simply sat beside Ichigo, turning his options over in his mind.

Yoruichi appeared in the door, shooing Jinta and Ururu out. They left sullenly, Ururu still pleading silently with Urahara to do something for Ichigo.

The Flash Master padded silently over to the prone boy on the bed, lifting his wrist gently by the leather manacle that contained whatever poison was felling him. "One left," she said needlessly.

"Yoruichi..." _I may never forgive myself if this kills him, but I absolutely must know what will happen when that last one goes down. I can't ask anyone else, and it only works once, apparently. You're the only person who hasn't come near him with reiatsu yet. Just gently brush his face or make it look like an accident, we'll tell them it was the hollow that did it._

"Kisuke." _I won't ever forgive you if it kills him either, but I trust your judgement and abilities. I'll do this thing you ask, but if it harms him I won't speak to you for another hundred years. I don't like lying to those kids about things like this, it's their friends life hanging here. This isn't one of your scientific discoveries, have you forgotten that it was Mayuri who did this in the first place? Do you even know what you're doing or is this just another one of those whims?_

She reached out silently and pressed one finger against his upper arm. The last knob plunged into his arm, and suddenly the leather armlet snapped open and began growing. It was over in less than two seconds, and Ichigo's body was entirely covered in the leather straps.

"KISUKE!" Yoruichi shouted angrily, her tone accusatory.

"He's still alive!" Urahara snapped back at her. Something popped out of the leather and unfurled like a flag.

_"And for my final trick: A complete physiological transformation! -- Kurotsuchi M."_

The two former leaders of Seireitei gaped at it stupidly, then turned to look at each other.

"That bastard!" Urahara swore. Ishida nearly knocked the door over in his haste to enter the room.

"What happened?" demanded the Quincy. "What did you do?"

"It was the hollow," both Yoruichi and Kisuke said in unison. Urahara continued. "When Chad and Rukia-chan defeated it, it released a wave of almost undetectable reiatsu and triggered the button. Then that thing went crazy and covered him up."

Ishida looked down in horror at his mummified rival-turned-friend. The only thing left to do now was wait and see.

-[TBC]-

I'm much better with dialogue than I am with actions. XDD And I apologize for being out of character. I realize that I'm horribly, horribly OOC with these guys. I just don't know them well enough yet, but I needed to get this out of my head.

Also, some of the things that have happened - Shinji's kiss, the bracer with the metal spikes... these things were MUCH easier to simply imagine than they were to write out. XDDD


	3. Within the Sparkling Sunlight

It was a full three days later that the leather bandages finally receded back into the bracer, which shrunk from being the full length of Ichigo's arm to being just three inches wide around his wrist.

Keigo, Chad, and Mizuiro had been sent home to prevent their nervous worrying; Ishida had promised to call them as soon as something happened, and kept close watch over Ichigo's prone form. There were ten small marks lining the inside of the Shinigami's forearm, matching the positions of the nodules that had compressed into his body. The impressions worried Urahara; he didn't know what had been injected, or why Ichigo still hadn't woken up.

Despite Kurotsuchi's warning flag, not much seemed to have changed about Ichigo, Urahara thought to himself. It was almost on cue that suddenly his hair began twisting wildly as though it had a mind of its own. Soon, it began growing longer, reaching past his shoulders and down his back. He seemed smaller, somehow, more vulnerable when he was laying flat on his back, ten small red blemishes in his arm marking four days of pain and suffering.

Ishida wandered back into the room, toweling his hair dry after a shower. "Urahara... Thank you for letting me stay," he said politely. Behind him, Shinji kicked him.

"Dumbass," the vizard swore. "He tried to kick you out five times but you wouldn't leave!"

Ishida rounded on him, scowling. "Look who's talking! Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Shinji sighed dramatically, and clasped his hands. "Ishida-kuun, I've been so worried about my lovely Ichigo, though. Who knows what that bastard Kurotsuchi did to him."

"Look, you, don't start with that again! What exactly does Ichigo mean to you anyway?"

"What does he mean to _me?_ Why, he's my one true beloved, that's what! I can ask you the same thing! What does he mean to you, Uryuu-chan? I thought you hated Shinigami!"

"That's different!"

"SHUT. UP." Two pillows hit the bickering pair like bricks, and all three turned to look at the previously comatose Ichigo. The Shinigami captain was sitting upright in bed, still posing in the follow-through position from having thrown the pillows. "What does it take for a guy to get a little sleep around here? The least you bastards could have done was taken it outside or something!"

Ishida was moving before he even realized what he was planning. Throwing his arms around the Shinigami, he squeezed him tightly. "Ichigo! You're awake! I was so worried!"

"Oh, Ichigo, Ichigo!" Shinji imitated in falsetto behind them.

"_SHUT UP!_" Ichigo and Ishida shouted in tandem. Ishida realized how close he was to his former rival, and that something was... a little off. Jerking backwards, he stared hard.

Ichigo, unaware of the scrutiny, picked at his hair. "Man, what the fuck happened to my hair? It's so long. URAHARA! What the hell did you do to me!?"

"I didn't do anything to you, Ichigo-kun," Urahara said pleasantly, his goofy smile back in place behind his fan to hide his relief. If Ichigo was feeling well enough to sit up and yell, then he must not have gone through too much. "How much do you remember?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, frowning as the hair got in the way. "Well, he broke through the window, and paralyzed me. Then... I think he grabbed me. I passed out afterwards. When I woke up, I was in a huge room, and it was freezing cold. He put something on my arm..." Ichigo trailed off, suddenly realizing that there was _still _something on his arm. "Hey! What the hell?"

"It shrunk," Shinji pointed out, peering from behind Urahara.

"I... I... Ichigo." Ishida's voice was weak and trembling, the light reflecting off his glasses in such a way as to obscure his eyes.

"W-w-what, Ishida?" Ichigo snapped, still peering at his arm. The nemaki he was wearing kept sliding down, and he was in a constant battle with it to keep the sleeve away from the marks.

"Your... your... You..." Ishida stammered, finally attracting attention. Ichigo, fed up with everything, tackled him.

"What the hell is wrong with you now, you fruity Quincy? Is it Timmy? Did he fall down a fucking well?" He gathered the collar of Ishida's shirt into his hands and pulled his fist back to hit him. Ishida scowled, and reached up, ripping the nemaki open.

"Your chest, you idiot!" he snarled.

Ichigo looked down. Two conspicuous bumps resided there where previously it had been smooth, flat planes of muscle. Ichigo let go of Ishida, who lay there motionless as Ichigo groped himself in disbelief. "What.... what the hell is this?"

They looked real. They_ felt_ real.

"AAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!! Urahara, what the hell have you done to me now!?" Ichigo suddenly paled. His eyes went downwards again to his legs, which were still straddling Ishida's from the tackle. Slowly, he reached into the folds of the nemaki.

Ishida felt Ichigo's hand brushing against his hips as the Shinigami felt around for what should have been there. Ashen grey replaced the pale tan of Ichigo's face, and Ishida was worried for a moment that he was going to pass out on top of him. Or was it 'she' now...?

Ichigo cupped the empty space where her - his, dammit! - parts used to be. Nothing. She - he - pressed upwards, and met warm flesh. Pressed in.

This time, Ichigo's scream could be heard clear across to the other side of Karakura.

-

Rukia burst in just as the last of Ichigo's scream was dying away. "ICHIG-_**ACK!**_" Shocked by what she saw, she stumbled right into Shinji, who in turn slammed into Urahara, who fell right to the bottom of the impromptu dogpile. Yoruichi was right behind Rukia, and didn't see them go down. Urahara grunted as Yoruichi tumbled down after them.

"That.. that... That bastard! That bastard Kurotsuchi turned me into... into..."

"A really hot girl," Shinji interjected, making no pretenses about staring at Ichigo's still-exposed chest. The Captain-turned-female flushed red, and yanked her nemaki closed, then planted her foot firmly into Shinji's face. "You fucking pervert, keep your disgusting eyes offa me!"

"I-Ichigo-kun," Urahara pointed out weakly from the floor, "you can't expect anything less from a healthy young man when such feminine attributes are on display."

"Not true," Yoruichi said with a smirk. "Ichigo had no trouble at all keeping his eyes off me when I took my clothes off." She picked herself up delicately, and caught the fragile look in Ichigo's eyes. "Alright, boys, everyone who doesn't have a set on her chest, OUT!"

"That means you too, Rukia," Shinji said nastily as he climbed to his feet. Rukia swung out with one foot and knocked him right back down with a blow behind the knees.

"Get out before I kill you," she threatened. Shinji was on his feet and gliding out of the room before she'd even finished.

"Baibai, Ichigo chaaan~" the vizard called irritatingly. Urahara stood and dusted himself off before following.

"I think I have some phone calls to make," he muttered to himself, waving his fan rapidly. Ishida coughed politely from under Ichigo, who jumped backwards in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo," he said quietly. "Just so you know, this doesn't change anything." Ichigo looked at him gratefully before Yoruichi literally kicked him out the door. Shutting it gently, and locking it for good measure, Yoruichi sat down maternally on the bed beside the terrified boy-girl.

"Ichigo, he's right. This doesn't change anything. There's nothing wrong with your reiatsu, and I need you to tell me a few things right away. Rukia, come sit down and be morally supportive.

Rukia knelt delicately on the bed, and put her hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We'll get through this, to start with, and then we're gonna go kick Kurotsuchi's ass." Ichigo embarrassed them both by giving her a watery smile.

"Thank you, Rukia. Alright, Yoruichi, what do you need to know?" She surreptitiously wiped away the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes.

"How's Zangetsu? Can you still hear him?" Yoruichi took command easily, and Ichigo was comforted that she wasn't being coddled. The newly transformed girl reached inside her mind, searching for her constant companions.

_/Ichigo! Are you alright? I apologize; we were able to do nothing against the dark magics Kurotsuchi employed./_

_No, it's okay. I'm doing alright... I guess. You guys are sure you're okay?_

**_That's what we said, dumbass!_** Shirosaki interjected. **_Ossan was afraid that when you found out you'd freak, but he's been sitting in here biting his nails the whole time you were out._**

_Out? What the hell? How long has it been?_  
_  
/Approximately four days since your abduction./ _Zangetsu supplied._ /I have been speaking with Benihime. She believes that the bracer around your forearm was meant to -/_

"Ichigo?" Rukia's voice broke her concentration, and Ichigo lost the contact. "You were so quiet. We were beginning to worry that you couldn't find him."

"No, I found them. They're both okay." Ichigo said, smiling with more confidence than she had since Ishida pointed out her newfound abnormalities. She still shuddered to think that everything that had made her a man was gone.

"Both?" Yoruichi asked, then realization dawned. "Shirosaki also? That's good."

A tentative knock on the door startled them. "Anou, excuse me?" Orihime's voice sounded nervous. "I got a weird call from Urahara..."

Rukia jumped up and unlocked it, inviting the fae-master inside. Shinji was slumped against the wall, his eyes dazed, proving that Orihime had found him eavesdropping outside the door, and that she hadn't lost her touch.

Ichigo leapt up and hugged her old friend. "Hime-chan! I'm glad to see you. It's so good to see someone who's... normal."

"Hey!"  
"I resent that,"

Both Yoruichi and Rukia were glowering from behind the two girls, and Ichigo had the good grace to be embarrassed. "I just meant... from this world. Where nothing like this usually happens, yano?"

"I see," Yoruichi said warmly. "That's alright then. Come in, Orihime. Tell us what Urahara said."

Hime looked Ichigo over carefully. "So he wasn't lying. You're so short now, Ichigo-kun."

It was true, Ichigo realized. Instead of towering over her like he normally did, she was now almost as short as Rukia.

"Anyway," Orihime continued, as if finding your longtime friend suddenly turned into a girl was normal. Actually, considering some of the things she'd seen, Ichigo as a girl probably was normal. "Urahara-san called me and asked me to bring over some clothes, and buy some weird things. I couldn't understand what he needed them for at first, but this makes sense."

_Weird.. things?_ Ichigo was suddenly terrified of her mentor. Orihime was brandishing a large paper sack, and it was clearly full of .. something. Rukia took it from her gently, and opened it.

"How in Soul Society did that perverted jerk know what size to tell you!?" Rukia demanded, brandishing... something Ichigo had seen, but never considered the notion of actually having to wear. Suddenly confronted with the notion, it looked more like an instrument of torture. She backed up into the wall.

"No way. NO FUCKING WAY am I wearing that crazy shit!" she insisted. Orihime looked her over, and then shrugged before tugging her teeshirt up over her head. "HIME!" Ichigo shouted, sounding strangled. "_What the hell are you doing?!_"

The shirt removed, Orihime stood there posing in a lavender bra with lace trimmings at the top. "You're a girl right now, Ichigo-kun, and I know you're trustworthy, even if you were a guy."

"That's right," Rukia said, and followed the example. Ichigo's face was flaming red.

"Ru-Ru-Ru-Rukia! Stop that! Hey! Don't take your shirt off- GAH! Yoruichi! Not you too!"

In the hallway, Jinta and Shinji stood with their ears pressed to the door, their faces flushed.

"Wh...what a lucky guy!" Jinta said reverently.

"What I wouldn't give to see Rukia in her bra," Shinji added. Both boys toppled over, blood spouting from their noses like a water from a fountain.

All three girls stood topless, wearing the hated ... _things._

"See, Ichigo-kun? It's normal. And if you don't, boys will stare at your chest." Yoruichi did a little bouncing maneuver that caused everything to jiggle slightly. Ichigo's eyes shut tight, steam rising from her face. "Without a bra, that's much worse."

"F-fine!" Ichigo relented. "Gimme that damn thing!" She snatched the bra - thankfully black and plain - from Orihime's hand. She held it up against her chest, still wearing the nemaki. She could tell where her arms were supposed to go, based on the brief glimpses she'd gotten of Rukia, Orihime, and Yoruichi's displays. How it was actually supposed to work, though...

Yoruichi watched her struggle with it for a few moments, and then deftly pushed her nemaki down, exposing her breasts. "Like this," she said, and guided Ichigo's arms through the straps. She placed the cups over those... things, and then handed it back to Ichigo, who reached behind her back and tried to figure out how it was supposed to shut. Orihime giggled, and then pulled it off her again.

"I find it easier to do this way," she offered, and turned the hateful thing upside down before tucking the curved part under her chest. Ichigo reached back, and found it was much easier to hook together, and then stood there helplessly.

"This doesn't look right," she said weakly. Orihime guided her arms through the straps again, which was a bit of a contortion for Ichigo now that it was closed, and then righted the cups.

"Now just adjust it so that it lays comfortably. Are the straps too tight?" Rukia asked, tugging on them.

"Adjust?" Ichigo asked cluelessly. Orihime smiled, and then _reached inside her bra._ Ichigo shouted again before she could help herself.

"Adjust, Ichigo-kun. Put your hand inside and pull yourself up gently, then do the other side." Ichigo tried to copy her, and then realized what it was she was meant to do. That done, she realized that she was a lot more comfortable than she had been before, when they were free to swing inside her nemaki.

"Ichigo-kun's not as big as Orihime-chan," Yoruichi noted with amusement.

"Bigger than me, though," Rukia sniffed.

Orihime smiled. "Oh, Rukia-chan, you know that if yours were any bigger you'd look out of proportion to yourself. Everything else about you is so tiny and delicate, too, I've always been so jealous."

"Jealous? Why? It's your hair that I've always been jealous of," Rukia said curiously. "It's so long and beautiful. If mine gets any longer than this, it's a complete mess. The one time I tried growing it out, Nii-sama laughed at me."

Ichigo listened to the conversation flow around them as Yoruichi joined in with how she had always liked the way Rukia's seemed to just flow gracefully while her own was always sticking out in every direction no matter what she did to it. It was a strange feeling, this acceptance. It made her feel strong. She was in a foreign body, she was going to kill that mad Kurotsuchi the next time she saw him, but for the moment, it was okay.

"Ah! We forgot Ichigo-kun!" Orihime said suddenly. "One more thing," she added, and withdrew a tiny piece of black cotton from the bag. Ichigo stared it down like it was about to attack him with bankai.

"No way. No fucking way." she said adamantly. I can see the point of the bra, okay, but no fucking way am I wearing those... those..."

"Panties, Ichigo-kun," Yoruichi supplied helpfully. She bent over, tugging her pants down and kicking them away. It was almost worse than when she was completely naked, Ichigo thought, and averted her eyes. The tiny scrap of lace barely covered anything - it was so small, that Yoruichi's hand would have done a better job of hiding everything down there. The fabric stopped after just four inches, and turned into some sort of connective strips that arched over her hips and met in the back. "Look at me, Ichigo, cause otherwise you'll never learn anything. Think of this as a training exercise. Now, I don't think you'll be comfortable in something like this, but you may as well know anyway." She turned around, and suddenly Ichigo was presented with two perfectly round spheres of flesh, divided by a thin line of material that went into the front. "This is called a string-bikini thong," Yoruichi said cheerfully. Ichigo's face felt like it was on fire. She opened her eyes at the sound of rustling fabric, and realized that both Rukia and Orihime had followed the example, shedding their trousers and standing there in the full glory of their underwear, as comfortable as if they were fully clothed.

"Gack," Ichigo said intelligently. Orihime's was a match for her bra - a pretty shade of lavender, although mercifully solid fabric was covered with matching lace to create an interesting dynamic look. Rukia's was the most boring, and safest looking to Ichigo. It was just a plain blue pair of cotton panties, similar to the ones Orihime had picked up on her way over.

That boggled Ichigo for a moment, though. Her bra was white, but her panties were blue. Both Orihime and Yoruichi had matching underwear. She commented on this.

"That's because Orihime and I have someone to show," Yoruichi explained with a wink. Orihime blushed. "Rukia doesn't have to impress anyone, so she goes with whatever's comfortable." Rukia nodded her agreement.

"If I'd known this was going to be a naked day, though, I'd have worn something a bit prettier," she added.

"N-naked?" Ichigo squeaked. Yoruichi ignored her as Orihime pulled the last thing from the bag. It was a plastic bag that looked stuffed full of something flat and long... Ichigo caught sight of the picture on the front and screamed again.

-

Ishida was in the kitchen, helping Ururu cook up bacon for the sandwiches they were making for lunch, when the familiar scream echoed through the house. He raced past Urahara who was deep in conversation with Tatsuki, and kicked Jinta out of the way of the door, simply stepping on Shinji where he lay. He threw the door open, fully expecting a hollow, or bloody bodies, or even Kurotsuchi himself. What he wasn't expecting were three girls standing around in their underwear, a suspicicous paper bag on the floor, and Ichigo...

Ichigo...

Ichigo was angled slightly away from the door, giving Ishida an artistic angle on her flat, muscular stomach and the swells of her breasts contained within a plain bra. She was bent over, pulling something up her legs, and turned to glare at him over her shoulder, pausing midmotion. The action caused her hair, slipping over her shoulder and obscuring parts of her face, to glint orange in the sunlight streaming through the slatted blinds screening the window. A blue fire of reishi ignited around the redheaded boy-turned-girl, and Ishida bowed.

"E..excuse me please," he whispered, and slid the door closed again. As soon as the sight had been closed off - but forever burned into his brain - he toppled over backwards, blood fountaining from his nose, to join the other two already passed out in the hall.

-[TBC]-  
notes:  
nemaki is a kind of sleepwear yukata  
yano is a shorthand for you know

I apologize for the weird pronouns. XDD I love genderbending, but I'm never sure whether to use he or she when describing the ... bent person. XDD


	4. Drifting on an Ill Wind

Ichigo finished dressing in the clothes Orihime had brought over - a pair of jeans, socks, and sneakers, as well as several different tee shirt choices.

"It's too tight," Ichigo complained, shifting and pulling at the material around her chest.

"It's just because you've got more stuff there right now," Yoruichi admonished. "Quit pulling on it, you're going to stretch it out." Ichigo glared, but the impact wasn't as heavy as it was as a boy.  
When they entered the kitchen, Ishida's face slowly turned vibrant red. He coughed. "Ah... my apologies..ladies. Ichigo."

"Stuff it," Shinji said arbitrarily. "At least you GOT to see something!"

Ichigo shoved her hands into her pockets. "Well, I figure, it's not really my body. I mean... it is, right now, but it's not really me, so it doesn't count." For some reason the Shinigami looked almost as embarrassed as Ishida felt. With her hair falling in straight lines down her back and framing her face, and the masculine posture she'd adopted, Ishida thought he'd never seen a more beautiful woman. _The only problem,_ he thought wryly, _is that it's not really a girl._

A glint of colour in the window caught everyone's attention. A black hell butterfly fluttered inside, and floated around, seemingly confused. Finally Ichigo raised her hand, and the butterfly seemed visibly relieved as it landed to relay its message.

Ichigo's unnaturally pleasant face twisted into a more familiar scowl. "Shit," she muttered as it drifted away. Rukia looked determined.

"A summons?" she asked.

"A captains meeting," Ichigo confirmed. She slid the badge she still carried out of her pocket, and slammed it into her thigh. To her great shock, her Shinigami form was a girl as well - and her shihakusho hadn't changed a bit. Looking down helplessly at the massively voluminous robes that nearly drowned her, she wondered how the hell she was going to do this. Ishida sighed, and then pulled out a tape measure.

Ichigo found herself the sudden object of one of Ishida's sewing miracles - without even disrobing her, the Quincy managed to sew, lift, hem, and tuck the excess fabric in such a way that it would be easily let back out when she regained her true form.

"Can you still fight like that?" Rukia asked suddenly, as Ishida was biting the last piece of excess thread away. Ichigo looked horrified, as though the idea had only just occurred to her as well.

"Ishida-"

"Get Zangetsu-san," Ishida cut her off. "I'll meet you downstairs."

The grateful look Ichigo shot him went straight through him, and he caught himself almost wishing that Ichigo could stay this way. She was much... much nicer. His crush was growing immensely with every glance his way and every movement she made. He forcibly turned his mind away from the way Ichigo looked presently, and made himself think about the battle ahead. It was just going to be a brief test of skills.

Ichigo was in the basement training room already when he got there, and Ishida paused briefly, wondering how she'd managed it. _No matter, _he thought finally, brushing it off and drawing his bow. They'd done this many times before, and it was easy to fall into a routine. As he fired, he took note of the way Ichigo moved in the shihakusho, making sure it wasn't too tight or too loose in any way that would be restricting during a battle. The strap that usually held Zangetsu was flailing a little loosely, he thought, as Ichigo leapt up and swung, the arrow knocked in half.

They continued for a few minutes, Ichigo striking each arrow as it came towards her, but dodging once, her hair fell across her eyes and it was only a preternatural speed that kept her face intact. Her hair didn't fare as well - the arrow streaked through it, scant centimeters from her face and singed several inches off in the front. Ishida stopped firing for a moment to allow Ichigo a second to collect herself, and then had an idea. Since they were on an impromptu break, he could use this time to tighten Zangetsu's strap. He let go of the bow, and it flickered back into the invisible spirit particles drifing around the room. Ichigo stood, breathing heavily, looking at her hair which now sported a rather fashionably chopped look around her face.

"That was close," she said, grinning. The fact that her head had nearly been taken off didn't seem to bother her, Ishida mused. Although, after some of the things they'd seen in Hueco Mundo, something as mundane as that wouldn't really bother him, either.  
"Let me tighten this," Ishida said, drawing some of the excess material up in the back and sewing it quickly. Ichigo stood motionless while he worked, half afraid that he would mess up and sew it into her shihakusho if she moved. While he worked, he contemplated her hair, which was currently draped over one shoulder. It was clearly a liability in a battle, but he didn't dare suggest she cut it. It was beautiful, and even if his crush never went beyond looking and admiration, he wanted to keep it. The wrappings around Zangetsu's hilt gave him an idea, and he used his sewing scissors to lop a short length of it off before tying back her hair with it. The singed locks were too short to reach into the back, and they fell around her face, but they wouldn't be a visual impedement, at least, and she could tuck it behind her ears if it bothered her.

Ichigo's face was stained pink when he finished. "Thank you," she murmured, and looked away. Ishida felt his heart clench. _If only she were a real girl,_ he thought desperately. _If only it wasn't Ichigo!_ Because even as a girl, Ishida realized, Ichigo still wouldn't be interested in him. She was still Ichigo on the inside.

"Hand to hand?" Ishida suggested, dropping the ponytail and stepping back to a safe distance away. Ichigo grinned fiercely and slammed Zangetsu into the ground, stepping away from him.

"Ready to get your ass handed to you by a girl?" Ichigo taunted, and then jumped.

_She's fast,_ Ishida realized almost immediately. _Much faster than when she was a guy._

They sparred easily for a few moments, when Ichigo attempted a roundhouse kick. It fell short by several inches, and Ichigo looked down at her feet as though they were personally responsible for the miss. Ishida paused to allow Ichigo to recover.

"Your legs are shorter," he noted. "Your arms, too. You're gonna have to get closer than you're used to." He briefly imagined Ichigo getting _closer_ and his face flushed.

Thankfully, Ichigo was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice it. A footstep behind them alerted Ishida to the fact that they were no longer alone.

"He's right," Yoruichi said, laying a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We're going to have to teach you how to fight all over again, so you can have a chance against Mayuri when we find him."

Ichigo looked irritable at first; she wasn't planning on being a girl long enough to need to know how to fight that way, but Yoruichi's further explanation mollified her.

"We'll start after the meeting tomorrow. For now, just relax." The flash-master padded away silently, and Ishida followed after her.

-

After dinner that night, Ichigo realized she'd missed a lot of school. It wasn't that she would fail without it, but she didn't like not going. Rukia smirked at her.

"You're going to have to go in a girl's uniform," she said, sipping delicately at her tea. Ichigo sputtered.

"She's right," Ishida sighed, seeing more sewing in his future. She wasn't that much bigger than Rukia, and it would be a simple thing to alter one of the other Shinigami's uniforms. Actually, he didn't truly mind it. He found he liked the idea of sewing clothes for Ichigo. Anything to help her time as a girl go more smoothly.

"Ishida," Ichigo said suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Ishida spit out the sip of tea he'd just taken while Urahara's fan snapped open and Shinji wailed. "Excuse me?"

"ICHIGO, how could you?! I wanted to sleep with you!"

"Oh my, Ichigo, isn't that rather sudden?"

"Don't be perverted!" Ichigo shouted at them both. She turned back to Ishida, and he could see in her face how much it was hurting her to ask. "It's just... I don't want to be alone tonight. Please?"

He nodded wordlessly. Her face broke out in a smile - a real smile and not the sarcastic grin or triumphant smirk from her boy-days. It struck him into his heart, and he found himself wishing, not for the first or even second or third time, that this was anyone but Ichigo - the one person he couldn't have.

-

Shinji kept up a tirade for the next three hours, until everyone parted ways to go to bed. How could Ichigo choose some stupid Quincy over him, what he was going to do if he heard any suspicious noises from the room, how he was much more experienced - and therefore better - than Ishida. Ichigo finally shut him up with a foot planted into his face.

They were in Ichigo's room, the window having been repaired, and simply standing, staring at one another nervously. Finally, Ishida lay down on the futon, giving Ichigo a wide berth of space to lay in. Ichigo followed suit, laying on the far edge of the futon, but found she couldn't sleep.

As soon as Ishida's breathing evened out into the deep rhythm of sleep, she scooted backwards until her back met his chest. He murmured something and wrapped his arm around her. Feeling warm and secure, Ichigo drifted off to sleep.

-

The next morning she was awoken by a loud screeching noise from the vicinity of the doorway.

"I~chi-**_GAAAAHH!_**"

It sounded vaguely familiar, but her sleepy brain couldn't focus on more than one thing - she felt heavy. There was something laying across her chest, and cracking one eye open, she found the gentle curve of a shoulder and black hair that spiked out in several directions. Curious, she inhaled; a soft, masculine scent drifted off the person on top of her, and she wondered briefly how she'd gotten there.

The person atop her shifted, stirred, and then lifted himself up on his forearms, looking down at her sleepily. _Ishida,_ she realized. This close, without his glasses, and looking sleepy, he seemed so much softer than when she normally saw him. Softer, and... well, the only word coming to mind was cute. His eyes closed halfway and he leaned down slightly. She realized he was about to kiss her, and as soon as that thought made it's way through her brain, she realized that she didn't mind. In fact, she wanted him to. She wanted to know if he tasted as good as he smelled.

Suddenly, he was gone, and she heard a thumping noise. Terrified briefly that Kurotsuchi had come back - and then furious for feeling afraid - she sat up, ready to kill.

Shinji stood over Ishida triumphantly. "I knew you couldn't be trusted, you ... you... Quincy! How dare you lay hands on my Ichigo!" he all but shouted. Ishida blinked blearily up at him, confused. Ichigo snarled, and planted a foot into his back.

"Who the hell gave you permission to come in here, anyway?" she demanded, and found the piece of Zangetsu's wrapping that Ishida had cut the day before. She tied her hair back, adjusted her pajama top, and stormed out of the room.

-[TBC]-  
I'm supremely troubled by everyone referring to Ichigo as "Strawberry" and this is only a personal pet peeve. ichigo does indeed mean strawberry, but Ichigo's name in Bleach is written with the kanji for ichi (one) and go (five) making it either fifteen or one-five, however you look at it. It's like Death Note; Light's name is written with the kanji for moon (tsuki) but it's pronounced "Light", and nobody calls him 'moonboy' in fanfics. :/


	5. Darkly Dreaming Plots Unseemly

He was pleased.

Extraordinarily so. Everything could not have gone better, in fact. Kurotsuchi took a brief moment to gloat to himself. The boy was already weakened by his unusual body, and the minute he stepped foot into the Soul Society, the band would begin to drain away at his reiatsu, rendering him completely useless. The fact that it would most likely kill him in the process was completely irrelevant to Kurotsuchi; all that mattered was the end result.

After Ichigo's reiatsu had been completely consumed by the bracer, it would begin to feed off of Seireitei itself, disintegrating the buildings and sapping the Shinigami of their strength.

Finally, when Soul Society was on the verge of collapse, he, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, would sweep in from the desolate wastes of Hueco Mundo and singlehandedly use the reishi he had collected from them to destroy that useless, doddering old fool of a soutaichou and claim the leadership of Seireitei for himself. The strongest would be unable to oppose him, and with his stolen reiatsu, the weakest wouldn't even have a chance; they would crumble like dried leaves before the force of his power.

A mad giggle slipped past his lips, drawing Nemu's attention. "Mayuri-sama," she said tonelessly. He snapped his attention onto her.

"What, you useless girl? Well don't just stand there staring like an idiot, tell me!" He snapped his fingers impatiently. She was more trouble than she was truly worth, honestly.

"Another transmission from Kurosaki is coming through. Shall I play it now?" She was already turning to allow him to hear it without waiting for a reply. He was tempted to tell her no, just to see her reaction, but it was already playing loudly, reverberating through the room.

"A captain's meeting, hm?" he murmured to himself. The sonic transmitter he'd placed in the seemingly innocuos leather before attaching it to the Kurosaki boy had truly been one of his finer ideas, even within a life of wonderful dreams. He was now privy to every moment in Ichigo's life, personal, private, and public, whether the boy wanted him to or not. And because the boy was the soutaichou's Golden Child, there wasn't a single secret that would be withheld from him - or Kurotsuchi.

He indulged himself with a maniacal chuckle, ignoring Nemu's worried glance as it morphed into a full-blown cackle that drowned out the words being received from the human world.

Truly, had there ever been one so great as he?

-[TBC-  
Short chapter is shoooort.  
I have an excuse! I have been awake since six am, and it is currently one AM. THAT IS SEVENTEEN HOURS OF WAKEFULNESS, preceded by five hours of sleep. When I lay down to go to bed finally, I started thinking about the next chapter, and how it will focus on what Mayuri's up to (that's easier to type than Kurotsuchi, which I keep trying to type as Kurotschi without the U XDD cause that's how it's pronounced.) I can't remember whether Nemu calls him Mayuri sama or Kurotsuchi sama, so I'm going with Mayuri for the aforementioned reason. 


	6. Atop a Gently Drifting Wave

Ichigo took a deep breath, and stepped through the gate into Soul Society. A wave of dizziness assailed her, and she stumbled briefly, before gaining her balance again. Ishida had sent pins along with her so she could pin her haori up at the bottom. It would drown her terribly at the top, but that couldn't be helped. She hadn't been able to retrieve it in time for him to alter it the way he'd readjusted her shihakusho. Zangetsu tingled at her back.

Shirosaki piped up uneasily. **_Ne, Aibou? Something weird's goin' on in here._**

_What? What's that supposed to mean? It's just cause I'm a girl._

_/No, Ichigo. I'm afraid something doesn't feel right about the Soul Society this time./_ Zangetsu added.

_You're both fulla shit,_ scoffed Ichigo. _It's just cause I'm a girl._ She slipped silently into her quarters in fifth division, and let Zangetsu lean against the wall beside the door, within easy reach. She blew some dust off the mantle, and scowled. _I really need to get in here and clean,_ she thought. When she'd originally been granted captaincy of the fifth squad, she'd set up pictures of her family and friends, and rearranged the spartan furniture to her liking, and then only stepped foot inside the bare apartment long enough to put on her haori and leave again.

She resolved to dust it as soon as the meeting was over. Pinning the haori up so that it would stay out of the dirt, she slung Zangetsu over her shoulder and started off towards the first division house.

-

Hitsugaya was running late, and for once it wasn't the fault of Matsumoto. He'd stayed up late into the night working on his report for the soutaichou last minute, and overslept. That had thrown off his entire schedule for the day, and he found himself hurrying down the main road, dodging the stray soul reapers he passed, and tried not to look too much as if he was running. Up ahead was a strange girl with long hair, and for a moment he thought it was Orihime.

_Not wearing a taicho's haori,_ he thought irritably to himself. It was a very serious crime to wear the captain's jacket if one was not a captain. As he got closer, he realized that it was the fifth squad's haori, Ichigo's, that he left behind whenever he went back to the human world. Very, very idly, Hitsugaya sometimes played with the idea of killing off his human body and forcing him into the Soul Society full time. It was something that horrified the rest of himself, but he couldn't deny that it would make things easier on everyone else - Ichigo refused to choose a fukutaichou, and the paperwork that gathered in his absence was being completed by his third seat, a skinny little chit named Emmi.

"You, girl! You are under arrest for the theft and unlawful wearing of a captain's haori," he called, hurrying his steps to catch up with the offending female. She turned, scowling.

"Toushirou? What happened to you, wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Her arms crossed across her chest, she stood glowering down at him; there wasn't more than four or five inches of difference in their size, although her zanpakutou looked familiar. So did that tone of voice, now that he thought about it.

"Kurosaki-taichou?" he gasped out, more to himself than the girl.

"You were expecting, perhaps, Aizen?" she snapped, and turned on her heel. "I'm already late, Toushirou, I don't have time to play with you." She stalked away, heading in the direction of the soutaichou's quarters.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" he shouted after her out of habit. A bell gonged out the time, and he used shunpo to cover the last fifty meters.

They were the last two to arrive, and Yamamoto glowered down at them thunderously, looking older than ever. Being well into his second millennium, Hitsugaya was surprised he wasn't older looking still.

"Kurosaki, I hope you have a good reason for being so short," he said crossly, and several people coughed into their hands to hide their laughter. "Late, I meant," he amended irritably. Even Hitsugaya was hard pressed to keep a straight face.

"Yes sir," Ichigo said firmly, and held up her wrist. There was a collective gasp as people realized exactly what they were looking at.

Yamamoto's thunderous expression darkened. "Why was I not informed of this development?"

Ichigo's lips twisted into a nasty look. "You were," she bit out. "The moment I had a free minute, I wrote one down and sent it. It should be on your desk somewhere."

The soutaichou's desk was legendary for it's contents; an entire chicken was once found under a pile of papers, and people still snickered about it occasionally.

Unfortunately, this did nothing for his mood. "And it was not personally delivered - _why?_"

She narrowed her eyes. "Because, sou-tai-chou," it was clear to everyone that she was barely restraining her temper - "I had just been abducted by a homicadal maniac and experimented on, not to mention forced into this horrible girl's body! I'd like to see you have your entire physical being transformed into something completely alien to you - like a chicken!" no one bothered to hide their laughter this time - the dig was clear. "And then immediately think to yourself, 'I've become a chicken! Let me rush out right now and tell the whole goddamned world, even though I can't walk and can't figure out how to move my wings around.' _That,_ Soutaichou, is why I didn't personally haul my ass up here the second I woke up from a four day coma and flash this stupid body at everyone."  
She finished her dramatic speech with a sway, and for a moment, Hitsugaya - standing next to her - thought it was intentional. When he caught sight of her white face and shaking limbs, he reached out just in time to catch her as she started slumping to the floor.

As the rest of them realized that something was clearly wrong, and Ichigo wasn't just being a drama queen, Hitsugaya was shaking her, trying to get her to wake back up. He felt for her reiatsu, and was surprised to find it fluctuating wildly, like a little bird caught in a cage. After a few moments, the colour returned to her face, and her eyes fluttered open.

His breath caught in his throat as she stared up at him, uncomprehendingly, before shifting her eyes to the surrounding room. Shoving the unexpected and unwelcome thoughts into the back of his mind, Hitsugaya helped her up.

"Are you okay, Kurosaki-taichou?" he asked brusquely. She nodded, and put a hand to her head. Yamamoto sat down, trying to look as though he hadn't just leapt to his feet with worry.

"Just a dizzy spell," Ichigo announced, and most of the gathered captains looked relieved, and then returned their attention to the soutaichou. Hanatarou peered at her closely, scrutinizing her colour and reiatsu.

"Kurosaki-taichou, I'd like you to come back with me to the Fourth when we're finished here," he said after a few moments of silence. "There's no telling what that monster Kurotsuchi did to you with that thing on your arm."

---

In another place, the unwelcome eavesdropper scowled. "Monster," he scoffed, and set the machine to record before shutting off the sound. Nemu looked pleased, and he hit her on general purposes. "It won't be long now, girl," he announced. She smiled.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama. You have truly created an infallible plan." Her smile turned a little wicked. "You will have your victory in this, Mayuryi-sama," she proclaimed quietly. "Those fools will not even see what has hit them until you are the soutaichou of Soul Society."

-[TBC]-  
I just realized that I have no Bleach OTP. If you ask me about any of my other fandoms, I do. (DN: Light/L. Weiss: Crawford/Schuldig and/or Nagi/Omi. Loki: Loki/Heimdall and/or Loki/Narugami. Even Harry Potter, Harry/Draco and/or Sirius/Remus.) But Bleach, I'm all over every character. I like Ulqui/Grimm, Ulqui/Ichigo, Gin/Ichigo, Aizen/Ichigo, (I like Ichigo, though...) Ishida/Ichigo, Renji/Ichigo, Byakuya/Ichigo, Byakuya/Renji, Grimm/Ichigo, Urahara/Ichigo... Kon/Ichigo, Shirosaki/Ichigo, Shinji/Ichigo.... XDD I'm gonna stop there before I discover any others. XDD

I wrote that *points to above* hours before I even started this chapter. (that's why my author's notes are so long. not only do I like to hear myself talk, I write the things in advance, and then add to them as I think of more things to say later on.) Well, at this present moment, I just wrote Yamajii's line, "I hope you have a good reason for being so short," and it cracked me up. XDD I feel very strongly for my stories, and can often be found hunching over the keyboard, crying my eyes out while writing sad scenes, or leaning back and cackling during funny ones. If anyone reads these things, every few chapters or so try to point out a particular line or passage that you thought was funny/moving/profound/sad/etc, just cause I'm a nosy bitch and I like to know exactly what people think of this thing besides "it's so good."

End: I meant for this chapter to be longer, but it's after midnight again, and I meant to be in bed hours ago. XDD *horrible insomniac* I'm so sorry that they're so short, but at least I'm able to update frequently.


	7. After the Quiet Gathering

The captain's meeting continued smoothly - well, as smoothly as they ever went with that group of lunatics gathered into one room. Afterwards, Hanatarou made good on his threat to keep Ichigo in the fourth division for a checkup.

"I'm tellin' ya, I'm fine," Ichigo insisted. Hanatarou gave the girl a stern look.

"And I'm telling you that we don't know that until I make sure," he admonished. Ichigo scowled, but didn't protest further. After what seemed like hours, Hanatarou finally finished his ministrations, and proclaimed Ichigo healthy, and let her leave with a warning. "Just make sure you check back in if you start feeling dizzy again. I wasn't kidding; that thing could be doing anything."

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo agreed quickly, and hurried back out into the sunshine. Renji met her on the street, looking embarrassed.

"Ya still look like yerself," he mumbled. "Only... short. And..." His eyes dropped to Ichigo's chest, his face flushed. Ichigo felt her temper rising up again. She hadn't meant to lose it in the meeting, but she hadn't been feeling like herself. Ossan and Shirosaki's warnings rang through her mind again about something seeming off. She still couldn't sense much, and wasn't feeling different aside from the odd vertigo that seemed to hit her every now and then, and that could have been a simple side effect from being in Seireitei as a girl. Hanatarou seemed to think that was the cause, he couldn't find anything really _wrong_ with the Shinigami captain. Ichigo realized that Renji was still staring, an unusual expression on his face.

"For god's sake, Renji, I'm still Ichigo!" she snapped, and he jerked his gaze away, mumbling something incoherent.

"Sorry," he muttered after a few moments. "You're going back to the human world after this, right?" Ichigo had started walking, and the other captain kept pace with her easily, sometimes having to check his stride when he pulled ahead.

"Where the hell else would I go?" Ichigo demanded. "It's not like I have to stay here."

"Hitsugaya's pretty upset that you haven't moved in permanently. He says it makes more work for the rest of your squad, you not being here. He keeps asking me if I know when you're coming back, as if anyone tells me anything."

This was a complete lie, as Rukia told him everything - even down to the embarrassing details that Ichigo would have rather kept secret, like Kon's using his body for going out to a club one night while he was fighting hollows.

"You know perfectly well Rukia tells you whatever you want to know," Ichigo sniped at him, irritated for some reason. She suspected it had something to do with what Yoruichi called 'feminine modesty' - not that she had any of course, she quickly told herself and then wondered who she was trying to convince. Just cause it was twisted and weird, didn't make it any less her body, and she just didn't like people staring at her that way. It was fucking creepy when Shinji did it. Maybe that was just that it was Shinji, and that Shinji was a creepy bastard even when he went to buy milk.

In companionable silence, the two Shinigami captains made their way towards the gate into the human world. The doors opened automatically at their approach, and Renji walked through with his hands on the back of his head, whistling. Ichigo tried to follow, and slammed into some invisible barrier.

"What the hell?" Renji looked back, his face frozen in a comical expression.

"What happened?" he asked, passing through the doors again easily. Ichigo slammed her hands up against the barrier.

"I can't get through," she explained. Renji stood on the threshold, and she tried again. It was completely solid to her, despite the fact that he was standing in the middle of it - whatever _it_ was.

"Maybe I could carry you?" Renji suggested a little too quickly. Before Ichigo could shout him down, he'd swung her up into his arms and walked forward. This time they both stopped short, although his hands passed through it. He turned around and backed up through the door - his body passed the entryway until Ichigo reached the barrier, and then he found he couldn't move any further. Dropping her easily to her feet, he scratched his head.

"Well that's weird," he commented. Ichigo kicked him on the shin.

"You think? Dumbass! I'm going back to talk to the soutaichou about this." She spun on her heel and started stalking back towards first division when another wave of dizziness assailed her. Renji caught her by the elbows as she slumped backwards, unconscious.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked the insensate girl. He picked her up, and carried her back towards her rooms in the fifth division.

-[TBC]-  
(SHOOOOOORT.)

Also: I drew a chibi girl!Ichigo based off of my keychain, but alas - my scanner is teh broken. As soon as I get the stupid thing hooked up and all the drivers and stuff installed, I'll scan it and post a link somewhere in the later chapters.


	8. Bend and Break

Kurotsuchi listened to the audio feed from Ichigo's bracelet, chuckling. They wouldn't find a thing inside it; he'd worked too hard on it to let those idiots balk him on that point. Nemu had plopped a blonde wig onto her head, and was returning to the Soul Society to poke around and see what was going on, things that they couldn't hear through Ichigo. The boy couldn't be everywhere at once, Kurotsuchi acceded. Though the reiatsu drain seemed to be going quite well if the reactions of the people around her were any indication.

It seemed that the Soul Society, mistrusting fools that they were, had put Ichigo into something like house-arrest, preventing him from returning to the human world. They would probably give him a half-assed reason such as "Kurotsuchi is still loose and dangerous. We couldn't protect you before but we will continue to ensure your health and safety here."

Little did they know, his plans concerning Ichigo were completed to their fullest. As soon as the boy went down, he'd no longer be a problem, but the restriction to the Seireitei was doing them more harm in the long run. After all, if Ichigo wasn't present there, the bracelet could do the city no harm.

_They are actually quite helpful for a bunch of useless idiots,_ Kurotsuchi decided. They were doing half his work for him, happily signing the papers that would lead to their own downfall.

---

Ichigo awoke in her unused quarters woozy and mad as hell. How dare they keep her here against her will?! She was a captain, dammit!

Rolling out of the bed, she noticed that her shihakusho had been removed, leaving only the white yukata she wore beneath it. She found it folded neatly in the chest at the foot of the bed. Zangetsu tingled from beneath it.

_/Ichigo, I have been bound,/_ he murmured. It sounded distant, even in her own mind, and she froze.

_What._

It should have been a question, but the anger she'd felt at the aging soutaichou earlier was burning into a heated rage. Yanking out the black hakama and haori, she discovered Zangetsu in a form she'd never seen - always released in the shikai form, he'd always been an extraordinarily long, thick sword, but the weapon at the bottom of the chest looked to be a normal katana, the way the rest of the Shinigami's zanpakuto looked ordinarily.

_/My powers have been bound. I cannot be released./ _Zangetsu said, sounding sad. Ichigo was furious. They were treating her like a criminal prisoner instead of an endangered captain. She spun on her feet, stomping through the small apartment to the front door. The windows were all sealed shut with reiatsu and shutters, and she yanked on the door, intending to hurt someone. It didn't budge.

Fed up, Ichigo pounded on it. "LET ME THE HELL OUTTA HERE," she demanded at the top of her lungs. Outside, someone coughed.

"My apologies, Taichou, but you are to remain here in your quarters until further notice." It sounded polite, and weak, in Ichigo's opinion.

"Like hell," she snarled, and flew back into the bedroom, yanking Zangetsu out of his sheath. It felt strange to hold such a small sword after years of hauling the larger one around. She reached out with her reiatsu, and felt for the binding. It had been inexpertly done, probably by the clod outside, she guessed. Using kidou, she pounded the seal into nothing. Immediately, two things happened; Zangetsu grew back to his normal size and shape, and Ichigo saw black spots in front of her eyes. Shaking her head to clear it, she wondered what the hell was up. It was a simple thing to do, but clearly, they'd done something to her from the moment she returned. Perhaps a kidou spell keyed to her reiatsu over the gate, like the one that had prevented her from passing back through it to the ningenkai.

"Fuck. This." she growled, and stood in front of the door. She cleared her mind, and took a deep breath, gathering her reiatsu again. It felt like it came from far away, and something tugged in the bracelet. _Am I drawing from this stupid thing?_ she wondered.

_/Yes,/_ Zangetsu offered. _ /It contains a large amount of your spiritual power./_ She gasped, and then concentrated harder.

"Bankai," she whispered. Zangetsu flashed, and an explosion of reiatsu sent her hurtling backwards into the low, uncomfortable sofa.

"Hey! Taichou! What's going on in there!? What was that explosion?" Several voices from outside reached her, and she ignored them all, trying again. This time there was no explosion; rather, an implosion as all of her gathered energy funneled itself inward, and then darkness as it was drained by the bracelet as fast as she could absorb it into her body.

The last thing that crossed her mind as she slipped into unconsciousness for the third time in as many hours was _shirosaki..._

-

Outside, the fourth division members looked at eachother uneasily. There had been a large bang, and then utter silence for nearly five minutes. None of them could bring themselves to open the door, afraid that they would find Kurosaki-taichou dead or missing entirely from the sealed room.

After another two minutes had passed, one of them gained enough courage to begin partially undoing the binding on the door, intending to just peek inside. A muffled thump was their first warning.

Before they could even reach for the half-unsealed doors, they burst open, reiatsu pieces flying in every direction from the broken seal. Kurosaki-taichou stood there in her shihakusho, an unsealed Zangetsu slung across her shoulders, and a maniacal grin on her face.

The fourth squads looked at eachother nervously as the smoke cleared from the door. As the fifth squad captain came into clear view they realized something was wrong.

Her eyes were a pure molten gold colour, and a hollows mask was filtering down onto her face from the surrounding air. This was something they had heard about several times in the academy, but being fresh recruits, had never had a chance to see for themselves. First-hand experience was something none of them wanted, however, and the freshman Shinigami scattered into the city.

Shirosaki stepped delicately over the rubble of the door and most of the wall, looking down at herself with a frown. _**Even me, eh Aibou?**_

Somewhere in the back of his hollowed mind, he'd hoped that when he took over Ichigo's body, he would turn back into a man, but that didn't seem to be the case. More experienced Shinigami were running towards them, most drawn by the explosion and loud noises, and others by the terrified recruits babbling about a hollow in Kurosaki's room. Shirosaki sized them up, thought about fighting them for the sheer pleasure of stretching her limbs, and then decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and shot fifteen feet straight up into the air with one jump, landing gracefully on the roof of the next building over.

"Later, losers!" she called, and patted her ass before leaping easily to the next building, and the next before she came back to the general-use gate to the human world.

_**Been a while since I been out in Soul Society,**_ she commented to herself. Ichigo was still unconscious in the back of her mind, and Zangetsu was tending her as she slept. In fact, she realized, the last time she'd had free reign inside Seireitei was during the fight with Byakuya. She and Ichigo had reached a conclusion with one another; neither had total domination of the body, they shared it equally, and drew on one another's strengths and abilities. Shiro was well aware that she scared the bejeesus out of most of the regular Shinigami here, although not even half of them had ever seen her. Her presence within Ichigo was enough to give the captain a new level of respect from the kids out of the academy.

The gate was unusually guarded, and she felled the two eleventh division Shinigami underlings with a simulaneous kick/punch to each of them, hitting them both in the head. They hit the ground hard, and there was a cloud of dust behind her as the mob finally caught up. One hand against the empty air, she tested it to find out if it was sealed against her as well as Ichigo.

Her fingers met invisible resistance, and the crowd was catching up quickly. A roundhouse kick to the barrier did nothing but allow them to catch up to her. Scowling thoughtfully, Shiro looked around at the dozens of zanpakuto being leveled at her. She curled her fingers, and to the shock and dismay of those closest to her, they became claws. Not just the nails, but the entire tip of each of her fingers elongated and became sharp. Terrified, the Shinigami backed away. Shiro bared her teeth at them, sending some of the more impressionable reapers stumbling back through the crowd, eager to get away from the mad hollow.

Instead of attacking, however, she gripped the air with her fingers, tearing it open like it were nothing more than a bedsheet, or a wall of dough. A hole opened up to Hueco Mundo, sending several more Shinigami into alarm. Shiro opened it far enough that she could fit her body through it, and then vanished, the hole closing behind her.

She stepped into the vast, empty wasteland of the hollow world, looking around nostalgically. "Didn't miss this," she muttered, and curled her fingers again, this time concentrating her energy towards Karakura. The hole rent open, exposing Urahara's shop on the other side. She sent a burst of reiatsu towards it, knowing that the efforts were exhausting her already limited supply, but also aware that if they felt a hollow breaking free of Hueco Mundo directly outside, they'd be there to pick her up.

This hole took a few minutes to widen enough to fit through, and she staggered through it just as Urahara and Yoruichi were coming around the house at a fast clip.

-[TBC]-  
Whoot, a longer chapter this time! I'm bored with the computer right now; I only stuck around long enough to finish and post this chapter. (I'm running out of good ideas for titles, so they're probably gonna start getting weird, or being named after whichever song I happen to be listening to when I post)


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